Politics of Saudi Arabia
is a unitary absolute monarchy, along traditional Islamist lines, where the King is both the head of state and government. Decisions are, to a large extent, made on the basis of consultation among the King, the Council of Ministers, Islamic scholars, tribal leaders, and other traditional elites of the society. Saudi government is authoritarian, although some analysts have characterized the government of Mohammed bin Salman as totalitarian. The Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, is the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia. Under his rule, he has centralized policymaking, purged competing political elites, and dismantled pre-existing power-sharing dynamics.
The Basic Law of Saudi Arabia contains many characteristics of what might be called a constitution in other countries. The Qur'an and the Sunnah is declared as the official constitution of the country. The kingdom's governance is officially proclaimed to be conducted on the basis of Islamic law. The Allegiance Council is responsible to determine the new King and the new Crown Prince. All citizens of full age have a right to attend, meet, and petition the king directly through the traditional tribal meeting known as the majlis.
The government is dominated by the vast royal family, the Al Saud, which has often been divided by internal disputes and into factions. The members of the family are the principal political actors allowed by the government. Political participation outside the royal family is limited. Saudi Arabia is one of only four countries that does not have a separate legislative body.
Constitution
Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy. According to the Basic Law of Saudi Arabia, the country's de facto constitution adopted by royal decree in 1992, the king must comply with Sharia and the Qur'an. The Qur'an and the Sunnah are declared to be the de jure country's constitution. There is no legally binding written constitution and the Qur'an and the Sunna remain subject to interpretation. This is carried out by the Council of Senior Scholars, the Saudi religious establishment, although the power of the religious establishment has been significantly eroded in the 2010s.The government of Saudi Arabia is led by King Salman, who acceded to the throne on 23 January 2015. No political parties or national elections are permitted, and according to The Economists Democracy Index, the Saudi government was the eighteenth-most authoritarian regime among the 167 countries rated in 2022, being at it lowest score in 2012 and at its highest from 2020 to 2022. Government is dominated by the royal family.
The King
The Basic Law specifies that the king must be chosen from among the sons of the first king, Abdulaziz Al Saud, and their male descendants subject to the subsequent approval of leaders. In 2007, an "Allegiance Council" was created, consisting of King Abdulaziz's surviving sons plus a son of each of his deceased sons, to determine who will be the heir apparent after the previous heir apparent dies or accedes to the throne. Prince Mohammad bin Salman is the current Crown Prince, and is widely regarded as the country's de facto ruler.The king combines legislative, executive, and judicial functions and royal decrees form the basis of the country's legislation. Until 27 September 2022, the King also served as Prime Minister. On that date, a royal decree appointed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as Prime Minister, while King Salman retained his role as head of state and continues to chair cabinet meetings he attends. He presides over the Council of Ministers, which comprises the first and second deputy prime ministers, 23 ministers with portfolio, and five ministers of state. The king makes appointments to and dismissals from the council, which is responsible for such executive and administrative matters as foreign and domestic policy, defense, finance, health, and education, administered through numerous separate agencies. There is also a 150-member Consultative Assembly, appointed by the King, which can propose legislation to the King but has no legislative powers itself, including no role in budget formation. The government budget itself is not fully disclosed to the public. "Fully 40%"... is labeled 'Other sectors'.
Although in theory, the country is an absolute monarchy, in practice major policy decisions are made outside these formal governmental structures and not solely by the king. Decisions are made by establishing a consensus within the royal family. Also, the views of important members of Saudi society, including the ulama, leading tribal sheiks, and heads of prominent commercial families are considered.
As an absolute monarchy, the personality and capabilities of the reigning monarch influence the politics and national policies of the country. King Saud was considered incompetent and extravagant and his reign led to an economic and political crisis that resulted in his forced abdication. King Faisal was a "modernist" who favored economic, technological and governmental progress but was also politically and religiously conservative. He directed the country's rapid economic and bureaucratic development of the early 1970s, but also made concessions to the religious establishment, and abandoned plans to broaden political participation. King Khalid left government largely to his Crown Prince, Fahd, who succeeded him as King. Prince Fahd was a talented administrator who initiated significant industrial development in the Kingdom. He was regarded by many as the "father of the country's modernization". However, during the last 10 years of his reign, ill health prevented him from fully functioning. In the absence of a king who could provide strong central leadership, the state structure began to fragment and the country stagnated. King Abdullah was seen as a reformer and introduced economic reforms and made modernizing changes to the judiciary and government ministries.
Royal family
The royal family dominates the political system. The family's vast numbers allow it to hold most of the kingdom's important posts and to have an involvement and presence at all levels of government.The number of princes is estimated to be anything from 7,000 upwards, with the most power and influence being wielded by the 200 or so male descendants of King Abdulaziz.
The key ministries have historically been reserved for the royal family, as are the thirteen regional governorships. With the large number of family members seeking well-paying jobs, critics complain that even "middle management" jobs in the Kingdom are out of reach for non-royal Saudis, limiting upward mobility and incentive for commoners to excel.
The one exception to this rule was Khaled al-Tuwaijri, Secretary-General of the Court and King Abdullah's éminence grise. He was a commoner and immensely powerful, which meant he was despised by most royals, especially the Sideris, who sacked him as soon as the old king died.
Long term political and government appointments result in the creation of "power fiefdoms" for senior princes.
Examples include: King Abdullah, who was the Commander of the National Guard from 1963 until 2010, when he then appointed his son to replace him;
Crown Prince Sultan was Minister of Defense and Aviation from 1962 to 2011; Crown Prince Nayef was the Minister of Interior from 1975 until his death in 2012; Prince Saud had been Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1975 to just before his death in 2015;
and King Salman was the Governor of the Riyadh Region from 1962 to 2011.
In the absence of national elections and political parties, politics in Saudi Arabia takes place in two distinct arenas: within the royal family, the Al Saud, and between the royal family and the rest of Saudi society. The royal family is politically divided by factions based on clan loyalties, personal ambitions, and ideological differences. The most powerful clan faction is known as the 'Sudairi Seven', comprising the late King Fahd and his full brothers and their descendants. Ideological divisions include issues over the speed and direction of reform, and whether the role of the ulama should be increased or reduced. There were also divisions within the family over who should succeed Crown Prince Sultan.
Leading figures in the royal family with differing ideological orientations included Prince Nayef, the late Interior Minister, and Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Foreign Minister. Prince Nayef was personally committed to maintaining Saudi Arabia's conservative Wahhabi values. Of the senior princes, he was probably the least comfortable with King Abdullah's desire for reform. Following the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States, perpetrated mostly by Saudi nationals, Prince Nayef was strongly criticized by the U.S. for his reaction. It also took pressure from within the royal family for him to launch a hunt for Islamist militants who had attacked Western targets in Saudi Arabia. By contrast, Prince Saud Al Faisal is one of the strongest supporters of political and social reform. For example, he has spoken in favor of women having the right to vote, to follow the career path they wish, and to be able to drive a car. Women would be able to vote in municipal elections beginning in 2012.
The influence of the ulama
The significance of the ulama is derived from the central role of religion in Saudi society. It has been said that Islam is more than a religion, it is a way of life in Saudi Arabia, and, as a result, the influence of the ulama is pervasive. Saudi Arabia is almost unique in giving the ulama a direct role in government, the only other example being Iran. Prior to 1971, a council of senior ulama advising the king was headed by the Grand Mufti and met informally. In that year, the council was formalized in a Council of Senior Scholars, appointed by the king and with salaries paid by the government.Not only is royal succession subject to the approval of the ulama, so are all new laws. The ulama have also influenced major executive decisions, for example the imposition of the oil embargo in 1973 and the invitation of foreign troops to Saudi Arabia in 1990. It plays a major role in the judicial and education systems and has a monopoly of authority in the sphere of religious and social morals.
By the 1970s, as a result of oil wealth and the modernization of the country initiated by King Faisal, important changes to Saudi society were under way and the power of the ulama was in decline. However, this changed following the seizure of the Grand Mosque in Mecca in 1979 by Islamist radicals. The government's response to the crisis included strengthening the ulama's powers and increasing their financial support: in particular, they were given greater control over the education system and allowed to enforce stricter observance of Wahhabi rules of moral and social behaviour. Following his accession to the throne in 2005, King Abdullah took steps to rein back the powers of the ulama, for instance transferring their control over girls' education to the Ministry of Education.
The ulama have historically been led by the Al ash-Sheikh, the country's leading religious family. The Al ash-Sheikh are the descendants of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, the 18th century founder of the Wahhabi form of Sunni Islam which is today dominant in Saudi Arabia. The family is second in prestige only to the Al Saud with whom they formed a "mutual support pact" and power-sharing arrangement nearly 300 years ago. The pact, which persists to this day, is based on the Al Saud maintaining the Al ash-Sheikh's authority in religious matters and upholding and propagating Wahhabi doctrine. In return, the Al ash-Sheikh support the Al Saud's political authority thereby using its religious-moral authority to legitimize the royal family's rule. Although the Al ash-Sheikh's domination of the ulama has diminished in recent decades, they still hold the most important religious posts and are closely linked to the Al Saud by a high degree of intermarriage.